Open end wrenches are well known hand tools used to apply torque to a workpiece. The wrench head includes two jaws that grip a workpiece, such as a hexagonal bolt, and rotate the workpiece into engagement with a building material or nut. The jaws are typically aligned in the same direction as a wrench handle to allow the user to apply maximum torque to the workpiece in a simple and convenient structural configuration.
Many workpieces are located in hard-to-reach places that force the user to angle the wrench relative to the workpiece. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a conventional wrench 500 may have difficulty gripping a workpiece when presented at such an angle because the jaws of the wrench 500 are unable to extend along the horizontal periphery of the workpiece 200. As a result, the conventional wrench 500 cannot obtain a large engagement area with the workpiece 200 and requires many carefully maneuvered turns of the wrench 500 before the workpiece 200 can be rotated into place.
Several prior art wrenches have attempted to resolve the above issue. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,383 to Hsien discloses a wrench with a wrench head having jaws that are angled with respect to an engagement surface. The angled nature of the jaws allows the wrench to obtain access to hard-to-reach workpieces while still allowing a portion of the bottom surface of the wrench head to contact the working surface and improve the engagement area between the wrench head and the workpiece. However, the wrench head in Hsien involves a large angle of inclination that also reduces the thickness of the jaws in an area that contacts the workpiece. As a result, the engagement area between the wrench and the workpiece is reduced, and the jaws are unable to suitably apply torque at the engagement area.